Key words: hypnosis, illusionism, suggestion, psychotherapy, trauma
Stage hypnosis has been a valuable opportunity for learning hypnosis for doctors lacking for a long time formal courses of study. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, stage hypnosis shows were forbidden in almost all of Europe because of the possible damages to the spectators. The theaters, bypassing the prohibition of stage hypnosis shows, nevertheless planned forms of entertainment suspended between vaudeville, paranormal and scientific experimentation. In this context lived the original figure of James Mapelli, in contact with both the world of theatres and the clinics, who contributed, years later, to the development of psychotherapy in Argentina. The article illustrates Mapelli’s theatrical and clinical biography, culminated with the publication of the systematized method of care devised by the author in the book “La psicoinervación. Terapéutica psíquica” in 1928.